Two-time Olympian will be Canada’s No. 1 cheerleader and head of the group tasked with ensuring the country’s athletes can achieve their best.

Former Olympic swimming champion Mark Tewksbury will act as Canada's chef de mission at the London Games.

By:Daniel GirardSports Reporter, Published on Sat May 19 2012

Mark Tewksbury has made more than his share of splashes.

In the pool, the Calgary native was a two-time Olympian and winner of three medals — gold in the 100-metre backstroke and bronze in the relay at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, four years after capturing a relay silver in Seoul.

Since retiring from competition, Tewksbury has done everything from hosting a television show and being a motivational speaker to authoring books and speaking out against International Olympic Committee corruption, in the late 1990s, and on behalf of the rights of gays and lesbians.

Now, the 44-year-old is poised to lead Canadian Olympians into London in the role of the team’s chef de mission. In the volunteer position as official representative and spokesperson, he’ll be the No. 1 cheerleader and head of the group tasked with ensuring the country’s athletes can achieve their best.

Tewksbury took time from his hectic schedule to talk to the Star.

What’s your greatest Olympic moment, personally?

I never know how to answer that, honestly. I don’t know if it’s from a spectator or media or athlete or chef.

I know this sounds totally cheesy but I have a feeling the best is yet to come. Already, the process and the journey for London has been so interesting, learning about the behind the scenes and being put in some great, challenging leadership positions and situations and to watch the team.

It’s been 24 year since your first Olympics as an athlete, 20 years since your last. How often do you think back on those two experiences?

I have an interesting life in the sense that my experience in sport created the foundation for my business career. So, I share those experiences quite regularly but in a more educational fashion. It’s been a way to reflect an inspirational story to people but there’s learning there that’s universal and that’s what we love about the Olympic Games, that universality. So, from a technical point of view, I look at it a lot and I speak about it a lot.

But it’s very rare, and it’s just happened recently, when I found my scrapbook from right after the Games. I flipped through it. If you can believe it, we got telegrams back then, there wasn’t even email. The big deal was that I got one fax and it was from Wayne Gretzky.

In that moment, I’m not just sharing the story and using it to teach, I let it back into my heart, what it felt like, how overwhelming and life changing it was. But I’m 20 years older and have lost that touch to it. But after this journey I’ve been on, somehow, I’m back in the fold. It’s pretty cool.

What’s the most exciting part of your role as chef de mission?

The team. The sole reason I came back was because of what the athletes are doing out there. I know that journey and so respect it. So, if I can help in any way be a part of that I will. It was the right time for me in my own life to invest time. I’m so excited to be there. I know. This is what you dream of from the time you’re a kid so to be there to help create that environment for them to have a fantastic, meaningful and really great experience to look back on and know they were there.

It’s interesting you talk about “team.” Swimming is seen as such a sole pursuit. Are you surprised the team aspect of London excites you?

No. First of all, swimming is surprisingly a team type of atmosphere because you can’t do all that training alone. Some people have done but I don’t know how they did it because I would never get up at 5 a.m. again to go swim by myself, are you kidding me? Even when I was disciplined in my teens it was tough, so forget about it. You need people to pull you through all those hours.

But the Summer Games are just so huge — 26 sports, 39 disciplines. Even just to learn the enormity of it, the Olympic movement. How we get there. The behind the scenes magic that takes years just to come down to facilitate the final moments. All these athletes have been to world championships, they know what it’s like to compete at that world class level. But the Olympics is 26 sports coming together not for 26 world championships but for one Olympic Games. What I’m so proud of is we’re one team.

What exactly is it you and the rest of the COC will do in London?

The distinction that I think is hard for people to understand is that the work is really done in the trenches with the coaches and athletes right now. I have to stress that. But at the very end, when you’ve got to convert that performance, when it counts, with the pressure of the world, if you’re not ready for that environment, it’s a game-changer. So, the Olympic Committee’s real mission is for that final whatever you want to call it per cent, when it comes to performance that there are no distractions and athletes feel supported and they’re just ready to be their best. And, that’s a huge job. How do the teams get there? How do the rowing boats get there? How do all the horses get there? Where do they stay? What do they eat? Where are your family and friends going to stay and how will they get tickets?

Were you conscious of that stuff when you competed?

Not really. I had a good relationship with my team leader but I knew if I had any requests I knew where to go and somehow it got done. That’s how it should work. That’s what we’re there for.

You swam in two Games. You were an analyst for swimming at two more. What’s it going to be like to cheer on athletes in 25 other sports?

It’s going to be incredible. The pace of the Olympics is so extraordinary. It starts on Day 1 and bam there’s so many events going on and suddenly you’re in the field of play. And, that’s what we’re there for.

And, it’s a constant education, right. I love sport. I love amateur sport. I love Olympism, that’s why I devoted my sport life to that idea and I still do. It’ll be so great to go see and be a part of. In the lead up I’ve tried to go to lots of different test events and meet different athletes. It’s great to be exposed to all of this with a new set of eyes.

Canada was 19th in medals in Beijing. The goal in London is top 12. How are we going to achieve that?

It’s not going to be easy. For sure it’s an ambitious goal. But our motto is attaining excellence never is easy. We’re going to have to see.

The summer is extraordinarily competitive. I can just tell you that we’ve done everything possible to stage the best team ever. Let’s see how we fare. If there’s any surprise I hope for, it’s that lots of dark horses, athletes not necessarily on the medal radar, pop through and have a breakthrough.

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